Bunker Hill Community College Salutes Fenway Park at 100

Tuesday, September 18, 2012

“Take Me Out To The Ball Game: Celebrating Fenway@100,” a new exhibit at the Bunker Hill Community College Art Gallery, opened Monday, September 17, with a multi-media salute to America’s favorite pastime and Boston’s beloved hometown team.

More than 28 artists and collectors, the majority from New England, celebrate baseball, the Red Sox and Fenway Park with oil paintings, quilts, prints, watercolors, drawings, and cartoons. The exhibit features iconic black and white photographs of the Red Sox from the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s, captured by local news photographer Laban H. Whittaker; 25 of these images have never before been displayed in a gallery. Paintings by Justyn Farano, the official artist for the Ted Williams Museum in St. Petersburg, Florida, are also on display, as well as evocative work by Lou Jones, John Kennard, Loretta Feeney, Elaine Ostrander, Mara Aspinal, Michael McCauley and others.

Visitors will be able to relive the 2004 championship “rolling rally” with photos by veteran Boston Globe photographer Bill Brett. Yawkey Way – famous for being the address of Fenway Park, the home field of the Red Sox – is cast in a new light in impressionistic renderings of pre-game crowds by Arnie Casavant, a well-known Chelsea painter.

An artists’ reception will be held on Thursday, September 27, from 6 to 8 p.m., with Fenway Park-inspired fare and live music. Frances Botelho-Hoeg, winner of the 2005 Boston Pops competition, will perform the national anthem and several American songbook standards. There will also be a special musical guest appearance by Josh Kantor, the official Red Sox organist, for a rousing sing-along version of “Take Me Out To The Ball Game” and “Sweet Caroline.”

“This is no doubt the definitive Fenway @100 exhibit of the season,” said Art Gallery Director Laura Montgomery. “It is a hit right out of the park,” said Montgomery. “Take Me Out To The Ball Game: Celebrating Fenway@100” continues through Oct. 20, 2012. The gallery is free and open to the public. Gallery Hours: M/W/F 10 a.m. – 7 p.m., Sat 10 a.m. – 2 p.m.